The best of us
by x.xOracles.Shadowx.x
Summary: With an arrow and a bed of blood, the Lion of Lannister and his Maid of Tarth left the world. - Character death! Kind of AU-ish! JaimeBrienne. T for language. Enjoy!


**AN: Hi guys. Merry Christmas/ Happy holidays/ Happy Whatever you so choose to celebrate! I don't exactly know why I'm publishing a death fic, but I am. I liked it, and I thought you guys might. So, some minor notes: As far as I'm concerned, Dany is the true queen, hence why she's in this. Yes, Brienne and Jaime are married. Yes, they have a son named Brandon, after Bran Stark. And no, I don't have a clue how this ended up as dark-ish as it did, but I just kind of went with it. It's been kind of a dark day for me, so I guess it's fitting.**

**I don't know what else to say about this one, guys. I just hope you enjoy it. =)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Though, if anyone wanted to get me a Kit Harrington of my very own, I'd not say no. **

First there was only one man like him. Then, with a drop of poison and an arrow, there were none.

Brienne felt hollow as she watched the body of Jaime Lannister become interred beneath the stones of Casterly Rock. She saw the Queen and Tyrion standing apart from the crowd on a dais with the remaining Lannisters, both dressed in black. Genna Lannister gave Brienne looks of distain from where she stood by her Frey husband, but Brienne gave her no notice. She didn't care for anything Genna Lannister thought. If she wanted to say goodbye to her lord husband from beside his tomb while she was heavy with child, that was her business, and propriety be damned.

Queen Danaerys' hair was shining in the semi darkness and had turned into a bright river of fire from where she stood between the torches. Tyrion stood next to her and Tommen and Myrcella were beside him. Brienne saw as the crowd looked at Tyrion in disapproval as the bright golden Lannister lion blazed from the sable black of his doublet. They could disapprove all they wished; both Brienne and Brandon thought it fitting. Jaime Lannister was a lion until the day he died, a lion the lords and ladies learned to love and hate in equal measure.

Many thought it fitting when the circumstance of Jaime's death made its way around the seven kingdoms. He was made famous because of the death of a Targaryen monarch, and later died in defense of the new Targaryen queen. A few people said it was the revenge of the Mad King, though all were careful not to say as much in the hearing of the queen. Jaime, Brienne knew, died as he'd lived; dealing out and with the will of the Targaryens.

His death was completely unexpected, which Brienne supposed made it all the more enthralling for the masses. The Queen had gone to Dorne for Princess Myrcella's nameday celebration and the announcement of her marriage to Prince Trystane, and both Jaime and Ser Jorah Mormont had gone with her, as well three fourths of her Queen's guard. Princess Arianne had arranged for a performance of traditional Dornish dancing, and while Dany enjoyed the spectacle, her guards watched. With the proven allegiance of Dorne to the crown, no one expected an assassination attempt when a performer raised their bow and arrow towards Dany.

No one, that is, except Jaime.

It took only a moment, but between the twang of the arrow and the clang of iron hitting steel, the golden lion Jaime Lannister sank to his knees in the Dornish sands, an arrow protruding from the space between his shoulder guard and his breast plate. Ser Jorah sprang into action the moment he saw the arrow become embedded in Jaime, grabbing the Queen and showing her to safety. Her bloodriders ran down the would be assassin while half of Dany's guards surrounded the Martells, who looked shocked and genuinely horrified, and the other half ran to Jaime to see if he was alright.

Telling the concerned guards where they could shove their worry, Jaime shakily stood, a hand ripping the dented shoulder plate from him to examine the wound and blood spilling from beneath the plate and onto the sand. As the black beast known across the realm as Drogon screamed overhead, Jaime fell to the ground in a dead faint before he could make a single remark on his wound. With their brothers' cry, Viserion and Rhaegal came to life and added their screams to the cacophony, and Dany ordered Jaime be brought back to King's Landing immediately.

Brienne had been in King's Landing with their son when she heard the news. Dany had given her leave to stay since she was unable to make the long trip to Dorne or to bear the harsh Dornish sun, and Jaime had insisted she stay. He'd insisted that someone needed to watch Brandon, even though the boy was ten and seven. Jaime, Brienne thought, was still convinced their son would show the rebellious side he'd had in his youth, but Brienne thanked both the Seven and the Old Gods that Brandon was free of it.

When the words reached Brienne, she felt pain spread through her and fell to the floor of the Sept. Dany rushed him back and by the time Drogon landed in King's Landing and the maesters carried Jaime into the medical houses, his arm had gone almost purple and his limbs were weak. Poison, the maesters said, coated on the arrow and meant for the Queen. Jaime had done the realm a great service by taking that arrow, but it would cost him his life. There was no antidote for the poison used. Jaime Lannister, they said, would breathe his last breath within three days.

Brienne sat by his bed day and night, but she couldn't get him to respond. Brandon tried once, but when he saw his father rendered helpless, he stormed away. He had Jaime's temper, if nothing else. Jaime only muttered in his sleep, most of it words said in a half sleep. He never woke entirely, but what he did say were the musing of a disturbed mind, and she was sure that she once caught mention of Aerys.

It took a week for Jaime's wound to take his life. Brienne sat by his bedside after Brandon couldn't take seeing his father grow weaker and more pale every passing day. To the end, Jaime struggled, thrashed and made a general nuisance of himself until his last breath, and even though it broke her heart, Brienne laughed.

When the Kingslayer was finally prepared and laid to rest, the Queen bestowed every honor and title on his widow and son that she could think of. She also assured Brienne that if her Brandon ever wanted to become a member of the Queen's Guard, his father's cloak would be ready and waiting for him. Brienne thanked her, but privately couldn't bear the thought of her son being away from Casterly Rock before his sibling's birth, and Brandon seemed to agree.

A week to the day after Jaime took his last breath, his daughter Joanna took her first. They'd agreed on names for their children only weeks after they'd been married, Brienne remembered, and those were weeks filled with heated arguments as to which names would be better, and whether or not they would be family names. Jaime had been adamantly opposed to Tywin, Robert, Cersei, Walder, Genna, Jeyne, Joffrey, and half a dozen so called 'royal' names suggested by the maesters.

He had, however, been appeased with the ideas of Brandon, Joy and Martyn, and though he wasn't thrilled with Hoster or Selwyn, he would think about them when the time came. Brienne, however, had insisted that their first born daughter be named Catelyn. Jaime had almost fainted when she told him that there was no negotiation allowed on that aspect, and he asked her if she was mad. The woman had tried to hang her and Podrick, and she'd also forced Brienne into trying to kill him! But Brienne had been determined that that would be her daughter's name, and eventually, Jaime conceded, though he made the suggestion that if they had another daughter, they name her Joanna after his mother.

When the little girl was placed in her arms, though, she didn't look like a Catelyn. She looked every inch a Lannister, from the golden hair to her father's face shape. She had Brienne's nose though, and her eyes, just as Brandon did. It took her a week and a half, but she finally decided that her daughter would be called Lady Joanna Lannister, the second of her name. Somewhere, Brienne knew, Jaime was laughing at her.

It hadn't been an easy birth, even with the Queen's gentle reassurances and subtle strength throughout. Joanna had fought her way out, and Brienne felt an exhaustion she'd never had before settle into her bones. She'd been unable to move for days after, and when she woke up to Brandon crying by her bedside, Brienne knew something was wrong. The maesters would say nothing, and Dany was silent, just telling her to focus on getting better and to think only of her daughter.

When the bleeding wouldn't stop and the maesters began giving her milk of the poppy to numb the pain, Brienne knew her time was almost out. She began sleeping most of the day, and during one of her moments awake, she called her son to her. She made Brandon swear on his father's hand that he would protect his sister with his life and never leave her alone. Brandon had her sense of honor and knew that his mother wouldn't ask something like that of him if it wasn't serious. He agreed, holding his newborn sister in his arms.

It was a hard promise; she knew it would likely take away any chance of him being a knight. Her son was a fighter like his mother and father, Brienne and Jaime had taught him swordplay since he was old enough to hold a tourney sword. She knew that being a knight was what he always dreamed of, and that his father's insistence was the only reason Brandon hadn't become a knight before then. Jaime told him that the life of a knight was nothing to dream of, and that if his son would find a girl he loved, get married, be happy and have a thousand children, he'd be more pleased and proud than if he became the greatest knight in the realm.

'I've been the greatest, Bran.', she remembered Jaime telling Brandon one night after practice. 'I may not look it now, but there was a time when I could take on any man in the Seven and, with the exception of Eddard Stark, I could best them without much effort. But being the best is a fickle thing, and the public always has someone new to fawn over. You could be the favorite of every man, woman and child in the Seven one day, and the next, you could be no better than the mud on the underside of their shoes.'

It was that lesson, she knew, that turned her son's eyes from being a great knight to the Queen's guard. As she felt the life slipping out of her, she told Brandon that he could join the Queens' guard once his sister had reached her fifth name day. By then, Brienne knew, Joanna would be under a septa's care, and under the tutelage of the queen. Her children would be well taken care of, and when Brienne heard Jaime calling to her and telling her to hurry up, she wasn't afraid. She knew she was dying, and that Jaime would meet her when she finally left this world.

As Brienne's eyes closed for the last time, she heard Brandon crying but knew he would be strong, just like she knew Jaime would find her wherever she finally wound up. With an arrow and a bed of blood, the true Lion of Lannister and his Maid of Tarth left the world of Westeros, but as their son wept over his mother's body holding his sister, she knew they'd left the best of both of them there on earth.

**AN: * sniffle * That's it, guys! I hope you liked it. I just recently got Dance with Dragons and I am very excited/ very nervous about reading it, but I haven't yet worked up the courage (or found the time) to read it. I'm sure it'll be amazing though. =) Also, I was originally going to stick with Catelyn for the name, but I changed my mind at the last minute. **

**You know the drill: Any comments, questions or concerns? Lemme know, and have a wonderful evening/ morning, guys!**

**Much love, and thanks for reading!  
>Oracle. (L) <strong>


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